Friday, February 5, 2010

I find myself sitting in the lobby of my hotel in Muscat, Oman. For the next two days I will deliver a coaching workshop to one of the banking institutions here. It is another opportunity to see a part of the world that I have not yet experienced. I treasure these trips and the chance to experience first hand the many cultures our world has to offer. In the past three months I have facilitated workshops in Saudi Arabia as well as St Vincent in the Caribbean.

These trips also give me wondulful opportunities to sit and reflect. With business, family and life in general I find I have not taken enough time to consider the gifts life has brought me over this past lifetime. I would say that my trip to St Vincent provided the perfect landscape for such reflection. My very good friend Gary and his wife, Cheryl have a beautiful second home on Palm Island, a small 110 acre private island in the south Caribbean. I visited Gary and Cheryl for a few days just before the St Vincent workshop. There were no disturbances of regular life. No work, no diversions, no nightlife. Just the most spectacular view you could imagine, steps from the ocean.

I spend time listening to the surf hitting the beach. We snorkeled and kayaked in the clear multi-blue colored waters. I took many pictures as I continue to learn more about photography. The time to reflect passed me through many thoughts and ponderings about life. What about my business, the work we do, the good it does in the world. Is it my life’s work? Is there something else I am meant to bring to the world? Who me? Am I big enough to deliver something? It brought me to a place of wonder related to passion versus pension. Many people work their life away chasing a pension and waiting for the day they can relax and then pursue lifes passions. I hope that I am truly in pursuit of my passion and lifes work.

I believe we all need to take time to reflect. It doesn’t have to be in as idyllic a setting as I had the privilege of experiencing on Palm Island, although I believe it sure helps! It means more about being curious and taking the time to allow our thoughts to appear, grow and develop. Too often we don’t take the time to allow our thoughts and dreams to expand and grow. Too many things to get done!

Consider the advise the 100 year old you might look back and give you today. Imagine that in this more vital society we live in that we may reach that pinacle of age in our lifetimes. What story would that 100 year old us want to tell? What does significance mean for you in your lifetime. Are you pursing that significance?